Blueberry Layer Cake

Two layers of tender blueberry cake flavored with both freeze dried berries and fresh blueberries cooked into a compote. A reverse creaming method gives this an excellent tender crumb. Blueberry compote in between the cake layers and a blueberry buttercream, naturally flavored and colored turn this into a very blueberry cake.

Course Dessert

Keyword berry, blueberry, layer cake

Ingredients

Blueberry powder

2.4 oz or 108g freeze dried blueberries processed into a powder and sifted to remove seeds.

Blueberry Buttercream

226g or 1 cup butter softened
360g or 3 cups organic powdered sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 teaspoon fine sea salt
1 tablespoon blueberry powder* from above
milk as needed to make a smooth buttercream

Blueberry Filling

200g or 1 heaping cup blueberries
50g or ¼ cup sugar
Zest of half a lemon
1 teaspoon lemon juice

Blueberry Cake

125g or ½ cup reduced blueberry puree*
300g or 2 ½ cups cake flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
½ teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
170g or ¾ cup butter softened
300g or 1 ½ cups sugar
4 large eggs at room temperature
360g or ¾ cup lowfat kefir or buttermilk
3 tablespoons blueberry powder from above
2 teaspoons lemon juice freshly squeezed

Instructions

To make the buttercream (the night before):

In the bowl of a stand mixer or with a hand mixer, beat together the butter, salt, vanilla and blueberry powder. Add the powdered sugar (sift it in if it’s lumpy) and beat to combine, at least 3 minutes, scraping the bottom and sides as needed. Add milk or heavy cream to the mix until you have a smooth buttercream. Place it in an airtight container and leave it at cool room temperature. The color will darken as the blueberry bits dissolve, after a few hours, stir it to get the color to smooth and intensify.

To make the filling:

In a small pot, cook over medium heat all the ingredients together for about 15 minutes, until the blueberries soften and burst. Place in a container in the fridge. It will thicken as it cools.

To make the cake:

Using a blender or food processor, puree 1 1/2 cups of fresh blueberries. Sieve the mixture to remove seeds and then cook it in a pot over medium heat, until it’s reduced, thickened and much of the water has evaporated. You can also cook the berries before pureeing. You’ll need ½ cup for the cake. Let it cool fully before adding to the cake batter.
Preheat the oven to 325 F. Butter and flour two 8” round cake pans.
In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat together the butter, sugar, cake flour, baking powder, soda and salt until the mixture is fully combined and sandy.
Add the eggs, one at a time, allowing for each to be fully combined before adding another. Once all four are in, let the mixture run for a few minutes, scraping the bottom of the bowl as needed.
With the mixer on, slowly pour in the blueberry reduction, blueberry powder, lemon juice and kefir. Once the batter is fully mixed, divide it between the two cake pans.
Bake until top is firm when pressed or a cake tester comes out clean, about 40 minutes.

Cake assembly:

Stir the buttercream really well with a rubber spatula, you’ll see the color change as you do. Put it into a large piping bag (this will help you create ‘walls’ so that the filling doesn’t leak).
Once the cakes have cooled, use a bread knife to slice off the tops of the cake domes. Pipe a border of buttercream around the top of one of the cakes. On the top of the other cake, spread a thin layer of buttercream.
Spread the filling inside the buttercream border and place the second cake face down. Pipe the rest of the buttercream around the cake and on the top and smooth it around with an offset spatula.
Get ready, blueberry heaven is about to happen.